A Science Experiment Gone Right

By Dylan Hochstedler

Seth Townsend, Eric Briggs and Davin Helden started their careers as scientists. They met while working at a biotechnology company in the world, and in 2011, all three of them went on to work for a local pharmaceutical company.

During the lunchtime intermission of one of those long, strenuous, mandatory-attendance meetings, they conceived the idea of getting out of the corporate world and starting their own brewery. They recognized that their chemistry and biology degrees would transfer over to the beer industry, and Townsend had already spent 18 years hitting his own homebrews out of the park, while winning a slew of local and national homebrew awards and competitions.

Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. was about to be born in Lafayette. However, opening a brewery turned out to be significantly more difficult than expected. The trio ran into a plethora of problems including: finding a bank and getting a loan; having their brewhouse delivered a month late; and receiving poor yelp reviews for not having a baby changing station in their restroom - which has since been installed. They had to rename their brewery twice because the first two names would have ended in sticky copyright battles. Due to all of the obstacles they have overcome, Liquid Mechanics is happy to help and advise all other folks aspiring to open a brewery.

Helden says one of the core values at Liquid Mechanics is to remain relevant. “Relevancy is one of the only things that helps a brewery stay on top in this crowded environment,” he said. “That means staying on top of beer trends, brewing world-class beer, winning awards and driving consumer interest through marketing.”

Liquid Mechanics is staying relevant, pulling in 25 professional awards over a two-year period, including awards from the Great American Beer Fest, the Colorado State Fair and others.